If brevity is the essence of wit, Bhagavan Adi Shankaracharya has it. And if wisdom is anybody's property, Adi Shankaracharya shows it.

The setting: A Swami with his disciples is on the way to Kashi Vishwanath temple after a sacred dip in the Ganga. He recoils from a sweeper doing the usual round of sweeping and asks him to move away.

The sweeper stuns the Swami with a challenging spiritual poser - one body may move away from another, but can the Atma of one person be separated from another's?

Only five verses in Manisha Panchakam but enough to keep one thinking for a lifetime.

Pujya Gurudev, Swami Chinmayananda's commentary is apt & heart-piercing, at the same time capable of making the reader introvert.